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Rural policies

1. Mahatma Ghandi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Wage Employment)
This policy was enacted in 2005 for the purpose of improving livelihood security of households in rural areas (Government on India Ministry of Finance, 2010). Driven by demand of jobs, this policy guarantees 100 days of employment to each family. Also, if employment is not provided within the first 15 days of demand for work, an unemployment allowance would have to be paid to the demander. All in all, this policy allows for the creation of durable assets. This policy has proven to be effective. From 2010 to 2011, 55 million people have managed to obtain employment opportunities. Within this 55 million people, 42% are also made up of women, allowing wome/n to become more prominent in society as an effort to eradicate discrimination against women. [people and society]. The average wage of the rural dwellers have also increased by 54% over the last 5 years, providing these people with more buying power to increase their social standing. This policy has also resulted in an overall reduction in distress migration in the non-agricultural seasons. However, while this policy has resulted in positive impacts on rural dwellers, it has taken up much of the government’s resources. Every year, $30 billion is pumped into this policy. In the long run, this policy is not sustainable and hence the government has come up with other policies to complement this policy.

2. National Rural Livelihood Mission (Self Employment)
This program aims to generate sustainable livelihood for families living below the poverty line by mobilizing them into self-help groups. In such groups, the target audience is empowered through education of credit activity. Training and development of skills are also carried out to allow them to compete on more equal terms in the market. (Jain and Prusty, 2012)

3. National Social Assistance Programme (Social Security)
This policy targets the vulnerable population in India - senior citizens, differently-abled, victims of unconditional cash transfer (Government of India Ministry of Finance, 2010).
- Indira Ghandi National Old Age Pension Scheme
- Indira Ghandi National Widow Pension Scheme
- Indira Ghandi National Disability Pension Scheme
- National Family Benefit Scheme

4. Watershed Development Programme (increasing producibility of lands)
Watershed projects are implemented on rained or degraded lands in an effort to increase their productivity. Such projects include Soil and Moisture Conservation, Rainwater Harvesting, Recharge of Ground Water, Plantations, Pasture Development and Livelihood Activities. In general, these projects last for about 4-7 years over three distinct phases - preparatory, works and consolidation. This allows for a larger land area for agriculture and also plays a part in decreasing the number of conflicts between ethnic groups over land. [Link to people and society]. However, the unit cost is rather high for rural dwellers- Rs. 12000 per hectare in plain areas and Rs. 15000 per hectare in hilly areas. As a result, not all rural dwellers in need of this program will be able to afford it. (check if this policy is self-funded). (Jain and Prusty, 2012) While this policy has the best interest of rural dwellers at heart, it has not proven to be very effective in the past few years due to the accessibility of this policy. Many rural dwellers are unaware of the presence of such policies due to the lack of connectivity in rural areas and as a result, the policy does not reach the target audience.

5. Indira Awaas Yojana (Rural Housing Programme)
For this programme, Rs. 45000 and Rs, 48500 are provided for housing in plain and hilly areas respectively for Below-Poverty-Line (BPL) beneficiaries. A further loan of Rs. 20000 from banks per unit house at 4% interest under the differential rate of interest is also provided to interested beneficiaries. In the past 5 years, 11.23 million houses have been constructed as a result of this policy, proving that this policy is indeed effective. (Jain and Prusty, 2012) With the presence of more housing facilities, more rural dwellers have access to better and less congested living quarters, therefore improving the standard of sanitation of rural areas. [Link to healthcare] However, this policy is costly- more than Rs. 100 billion is used every year, and hence, this policy may not be the best solution to housing issues in the long term. (Jain and Prusty, 2012)

6. Pradhan Mantri gram Sadak Yojana (Rural Connectivity)
The aim of this policy is to promote rural connectivity in order for the above policies to be able to reach out to a greater audience for the rural dwellers to reap the benefits that they bring about. This will be done by connecting all habitats with the population of 500 persons and above in plain areas and 250 persons and above in hilly, tribal and desert areas. Over the past 5 years, Rs. 915 billion has been put into this project, resulting in the formation of 200000 Kms of new road and the upgradation of 140000 Kms roads, linking more communities in the rural areas together. (Jain and Prusty, 2012) As this project is not yet completed but is still in the early stages, the effects and well as possible benefits are still not clear. However, the government is hopeful that rural dwellers will be able to have increased access to social services to decrease the level of poverty when this project is completed.